March 03, 2010
Community Living
I think the upcoming Census will put the population in my community somewhere around 18,000. It’s interesting that Peter’s sermon at Pentecost was so motivating that “…those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41ESV) If Peter preached in my town today it would mean that over 16% of the current population would come to the Lord. Can you imagine the impact of living in community like that?
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Gail;
-----Figuring that the Christian population was very limited until Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, their number would have been three to four thousand afterward. The Yellow pages list 45 churches in the Montrose/Olathe area. If their average attendance were just 100, then we are a community like that. Moreover, for decades the Barna Reports have indicated some 70% of Americans profess Christianity. Since our area tends to the conservative side, I would expect the percentage of professing folks to be higher than the Barna figure.
-----But profession doesn’t make life. It only claims life. When Moses asked God whom he should tell Pharaoh it was that sent him, God said to tell him it was I AM That I AM. I have always considered God’s response to be the most important guiding principle to knowing Him. We don’t make up in our minds who He is. He will not be the figment of anyone’s imagination. He is who He is, and we must shape our knowledge and understanding accordingly.
-----So, how do you shape your understanding to what you don’t know? God gave mankind a message about Himself in the Bible. Since the message is by His authorship, then knowing Him as He is can only come through learning what the Bible simply states. This gains head knowledge, which is a start. But a start isn’t a finish. The head knowledge must be matched by a heart’s desire to know truly, a sort of bias towards the truth. It is difficult to sort the dots of truth from a tangled web of deceit. However, they will sort out as naturally as the honesty of the heart applies the learned Biblical principles to the attitudes and affairs of its own life. And God’s own Spirit from within will complete the connection of those dots so that what God is will emerge as the sincere heart leads its life by the direction of the Word.
-----Yet there seems to be about every imaginable perspective of who God is amongst those 70%. I think the truth of the situation may be that more folks are not sincere than are in their desire to know the I AM. They more favor the God who stands for what they like in life. I am guilty of shades of the same. I think we all are. Then, what portion of us, the 70%, will say, “But Lord, Lord...” in the Day of Judgment? God knows. I don’t even want to have an idea so that my ideas can remain centered on the need for sincerity in heart and belief and knowledge. If someone’s life may be heading towards, “Lord, Lord,” he doesn’t need our judgment; he needs our beckon for a return to sincerity. If there were a preaching in this town as amazing as Peter’s, it would be this beckon. Could you imagine living in a community where even 70% of the 70% were sincere about knowing the I AM?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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